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Author: tomodonnell6

The sinking of a ferry carrying civilians should not be happening in today’s world. If for some chance though that it does happen the government needs to be quick with its response and the way they handle the situation. The government in South Korea could have done more to help save more lives. When rescuers arrived at the scene they started rescuing the people already on the outside or on top of the ship, why stop there when in addition to that they should have sent people inside the ship to help guide others to safety. Another aspect they should work on is keeping the families in the loop. The government left families that were searching for their children left in limbo without any news on how the situation was unfolding. I know the families were probably devastated with what was happening but I’m sure they would have rather have been well informed than in the dark and not knowing what to expect. Hopefully tragedies like this one become a thing of the pass.

29 years after the original, a sequel to The Goonies is finally in the works. The director of the original classic, Richard Donner made a comment while signing autographs that his next project was going to be a Goonies follow up. Richard also said that he hopes all of the original cast will return for the sequel.

If written and directed correctly this movie could be a great follow up to a movie I remember watching as a kid. I know many people are very excited to see how the sequel turns out. With the making of a second Goonies after 29 years I guess its true that “Goonies never say die”.

I started buying silver in April of last year. I started buying silver as a way to save money so that I would not spend what little cash I had in the bank. It quickly became apparent that silver was a perfect long term investment. Like the stock market silver prices go up and down but it appears that the price usually tends to go up overall. I’ve had really good days when the price for silver has gone up two dollars an ounce now that may not seem like a lot but spread that over 100 ounces of silver and that’s a $200 profit from what I paid for the silver. I don’t think my money in the bank ever had that much of an increase in one year let alone one day. One other great thing about investing in silver is that it is relatively cheap compared to the cost of other precious or stocks in the stock market. There are also many other ways to earn money off of buying silver other than waiting for the price to go up. Some silver also holds new- miz -matic value which means there is something special about the silver that adds to the value. Take for example this 1 troy ounce Canadian Timber Wolf, I bought this for the price of silver which at the time was $21 but because this was a limited mintage this can sell for over $60. There is also plenty of silver that can pertain to other things that people like. For example I love the walking dead so I bought this zombie silver round.

Another piece of silver that I have is a five troy ounce twenty five cent coin. Silver can be a great long term investment its cheap compared to other forms of investments, there are multiple ways the value of your silver can go up and silver is also small enough that you can just put in a container in the back of your closet and take up close to no room.

What is media convergence? Media convergence is the bringing together of multiple technologies into one new form of technology. For example, not too long ago if someone wanted to watch a movie they would have to take a trip to the movies, now a person can watch that same movie on their computer in their home. With all the advances in technology and the race for a faster product that can do everything a computer, phone, music player, and TV what are we missing out on?

The advances in technology are fantastic in so many ways but with these advances we have lost many other things as well. I remember a time when going to the movies was the best thing someone could do on a Friday night. You walk into the theater buy your ticked, your snacks and you were ready for the ultimate viewing experience. With the emergence of video streaming websites such as Netflix and Hulu those ultimate viewing experiences seem to be endangered. Slowly but surely I feel myself drifting away from going to the movies to just viewing the movie on my computer in my room. I don’t know how much longer it will be but there may be a day when you only read about movie theaters in books.

Books, that’s another area that was once so clear that it’s now becoming blurred. Books in the sense of good old fashion paper and ink are slowly fading out as well. With the creation for devices such as the Kindle and the Nook now books can be found electronically but not only can you get books on them, it also works a little computer too. My grandmother who is an avid reader of many books has always stuck to the paperback books. I remember when my sister bought my grand mom a Kindle, she tried it for a week or so but she gave it back to my sister and said it’s not the same. When asked how it was not the same my grand mom said, “yes I know you can still read the book but there is nothing and will never be anything quite like holding an actual book and turning the crisp pages for the first time”. I think the point she was trying to make was that yes you can read you book still but you will miss out on the experiences that so many people experience when they read from a paperback book.

One of the biggest products what has benefited from media convergence would have to be the IPod from Apple. The IPod started in 2001 and its’ big selling point was being able to have 1,000 songs in your pocket. This was amazing, never before did a product offer something such as this but it was not enough. The changes started off slow with upgrades of how many songs an IPod can hold. As popularity increased so did the advances. This music player was soon not just a music player it became smaller, lighter and even started playing videos and soon after games of all kinds. Apple has not stopped at the IPod, every year Apple is making advances in their products to make them faster and do more things in the smallest space possible. It is truly amazing and scary at the same time how fast technology moves. When I become a father my kids may never know the feeling of walking into a music store and looking at the CDs by hand and buying a hard copy. In today’s world even the drive to the music store has change from what it once was.

Cars have always been a product that changes every year. The automobile has changed a little bit at a time whether it is the size of the engine, the gas millage it achieves or the newest safety features but there is one type of technology that is quickly being integrated into the car. It’s not enough to have a telephone that plays music, plays videos links to the internet all in your pocket but now companies need to put telephones into cars. The time when someone could get into their car and just go for a drive and have to worry about being bothered is gone. Now people always need to be connected to other people all the time. There is rarely a moment when you can go and do something and have a way of being contacted.

I am concerned about younger generations never experiencing all the wonderful things I have in my life but will they even know to miss them like I will? With media convergence being an ongoing process of fitting all technology into one device younger generations won’t think that there is anything they are missing out on. I believe that media convergence will always be relative and if you’re not paying attention to it you will miss it. For example, for me I’ve experienced life when we did not have all of these technologies to do all of these tasks at one time. So I have seen the slow process of media convergence. Younger generations may not even experience the technology that existed before an IPod, computer, or even a Kindle. Although the “good old days” of going to the movies every Friday and listening to that crazy sound your computer made when it was connecting to the internet are quickly becoming a thing of the past if they are not already, I know that I won’t forget them. Marc Benioff, CEO of salesforce.com, a cloud computing company was once quoted saying.

The world is being re-shaped by the convergence of social, mobile, cloud, big data, community and other powerful forces. The combination of these technologies unlocks an incredible opportunity to connect everything together in a new way and is dramatically transforming the way we live and work.

Media convergence appears to be unstoppable at this point, it is a runaway train that no one can control. The only thing we can do now is just go with the flow of the new technology and find ways of adapting our lives around it. It is truly a shame that the wonderful gift of technology can take away so many wonderful things.

While searching the internet for new blogs to read, I was hoping to find one that made me want to keep reading more. While most of them lost my interest within the first paragraph there was one that stood out from the rest. The title of the post is called “Conformity”. In the post the writer Victoria talks about how throughout her whole life she has wanted to break away from conforming to society’s idea of what is normal. What made her more interesting than other bloggers was that not only was she talking about not conforming to society but she was living it too. She packed up her college degree and went traveling around the world.

I have also pondered the thought about conformity and throughout my life there have been many occasions where I have been able to demonstrate where I stand with conformity. For example I can recount many times when people my age have tried to get me to do the “cool things” that people my age are doing. I did not care who it was whether it be my best friend or someone I just met, my reaction was always the same I’d laugh in their face and said “no, I’m cool” most of the time I’d get a funny reaction and some lame explanation of why I should take part and how everyone is doing it. It was always at this point where I tried to explain that if I always did what everyone wanted me to do than what sets me apart from anyone else.

It has been this mindset that has relatively kept me the same person I have always been. There has been something missing however just like Victoria my family has always had these expectations of you go to college you get a good job and if you’re lucky you get to retire at a reasonable age. Well that’s not the life I want to live. I want to break away from that cookie cutter idea of a life and travel the world. Life was meant to be lived and the world was meant to be seen. There is a quote by Walt Whitman that I have become quite intrigued with it goes “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse”. My interpretation of this is that the life of the world is the play and each one of us contributes a verse with our lives. I want my verse to be something special and worthwhile. I want to be able to say I’ve gone driving through the desert, skydiving and climbed mountains, not I spent my whole life working that I have missed moments and opportunities that I will never get back.

One of the best feelings while searching for blogs was being able to get a look at everyone’s interests, ideas, personalities and finding some that matched mine as well. Victoria’s blog really stood out to me and I will continue to follow her as she goes around on her adventure of life. I hope one day I’ll be out there as well, writing and hopefully inspiring someone else to break free of the conformity that society puts forth for us and create their own verse. So I ask you, what do you want your verse to mean?